J-K urges Centre to clear names of intending Haj pilgrims

Srinagar, Nov 8 (UNI) The Jammu and Kashmir government today urged the Union Home Ministry to clear the names of those intending Haj pilgrims who were not involved in any militant activity or committed heinous crimes.

Sources told UNI that a high-level meeting, with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in the chair, was held here this afternoon soon after the inauguration of the Haj house.

Haj and Auqaf Minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Mitali Sen Gavai, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, and Haj Committee convenor Mehboob Iqbal, besides some other senior officials of the civil administration, police and intelligence agencies attended the meeting.

The sources said the state government requested the Union Home Ministry to immediately clear the names and allow those people to undertake the Haj pilgrimage this year against whom no cases of militancy-related incidents or heinous crimes were registered.

The state government impressed upon the Union Home Ministry that the involvement of relatives of the intending Haj pilgrims should not become a hurdle in their performing the religious duties.

The sources expressed the hope that the Centre would clear the names of these Haj pilgrims at the earliest.

''We expect that the Union Home Ministry would take a humanitarian view on the issue and clear the names of more than 200 out of the 300 people who had been denied clearance by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the state police for undertaking the Haj pilgrimage this year due to some reasons,'' they added.

UNI